BULL SHOALS, Ark. (AP) - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is trying a new tactic to scare away about 1,500 vultures that have taken up roost at Bull Shoals Dam.

Officials this week began hanging vulture "effigies" in hopes of discouraging the birds from getting too comfortable. The 10 effigies are made from corrugated plastic and resemble dead vultures.

"We'll see if we have a lot of success," said Bruce Caldwell, supervisory natural resource biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Mountain Home Project Office.

Caldwell told The Baxter Bulletin (http://is.gd/U23FP5 ) that although vultures like to eat dead animals, they do not like to be around dead of their own kind.

The vultures are fond of chewing on the rubbery material on two tower roofs, and the birds' caustic droppings also damage the structures' paint. So far, the vultures have caused an estimated $120,000 in damage to the dam and powerhouse, said Steve Hernandez, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers powerhouse supervisor.

The Corps opted for the effigies after its original plan - firing a propane cannon - didn't work. Officials said the birds circled around after each cannon blast and eventually returned.

"We still use it, but they sit and look at it now," Hernandez said. "It appears all deterrents work for a short duration. There doesn't seem to be a good answer, a long-term solution, for this problem."

Corps officials said they're hopeful the effigies will work but they acknowledge the dam is an attractive home for the vultures. The birds like the high perches, the warm updrafts and all the dead fish.